and so we arrived in south america severely jet lagged after departing at 5:35pm on a 12hour flight from Auckland we arrive in santiago at 1pm the same day, essentially we gain 4hours whilst being in the air for 12hours - i don't think we will ever get our heads around that one!!!!!!i don't think we quite appreciated how different traveling in south america would be following the ease of moving around australia, new zealand and to a lesser extent thailand. i am not quite sure why but we figured the language wouldn't really be a problem for us, we would simply pick it up during our travels. so we arrive not knowing a single word in spanish purchasing a phrase book each on the way to the airport and not even turning over the cover on the plane - well we are of course avid travelers now, we will be fine i'm sure!!!!!the difficulty of the situation came however, not when we got it severely ripped off for a taxi transfer (we decided we also wouldn't check exchange rates, or even what currency we were using) but when we attempted to order two coffees the following day - who would think it could be so much hard work even with the phrase book!!!!!!!apparently if they can see you don not speak spanish they talk at you more in an elevated tone and at a more rapid pace, sometimes i think they are just making noise to intimidate us!!!!! never-the-less after 3 days in chile we purchase bus tickets to mendoza in argentina (a successful purchase may i add - nearly fluent now!!!) and we head the following day across and through the andes in what must be the best bus journey i have ever had the views constantly breathtaking!after arriving late afternoon several days ago , we accomplished numerous feats taking advantage of the amazing activities available for us, no that's a lie, we have consumed some great very cheap meals about 2pound for a steak meal, we have had a little tipple of the el vino tinto (red wine, see fluent already) at about 1 pound a bottle and pretty much just walked around the city getting lost stopping off for the odd coffee as a refreshment (we don,t believe in maps see we want to gain the most of our traveling experience and you cant do that if you know where your heading we are merely tumbleweed buoyantly drifting in the breeze) we have also accomplished a lost marathon curtsy of pughie, many thanks, where we resided in an internet cafe for 9 hours watching episodes 15 - 24 - a great program a great ending - traveling is great!!!!!!